The hub leads support the strategic coordination of clinical research and feasibility processes. They also work to ensure research is part of the trust’s performance management, by identifying staff requirements and promoting the delivery of high quality studies supported by the National Institute for Health Research.

More information about the new hub leads –

Dr David Brealey is a consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine at UCLH. Dr Brealey and his team run trials on behalf of the surgery, gastroenterology and emergency medicine departments and work closely with the anaesthetic research team.

Dr Jeremy Chataway is a consultant neurologist and clinical lead of the multiple sclerosis group at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Dr Chattaway has a particular interest in clinical trial design and was the chief investigator of a recently reported trail of high dose simvastatin in secondary progressive MS.

Dr Stefano Fedele is Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Oral Medicine at the Eastman Dental Institute and Eastman Dental Hospital. Dr Fedele is Head of the Department of Clinical Research at the Eastman Dental Institute and Chair of the Eastman Clinical Investigation Centre, a Clinical Research Facility dedicated to clinical trials and translational research in orofacial disorders. Dr Francesco D'Aiuto is a reader in Periodontology, also based at the Eastman Dental Institute and Eastman Dental Hospital, with a research interest in the association of periodontal diseases with various chronic systemic diseases (diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases).

Professor Michael Ehrenstein is an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at UCLH. Professor Ehrenstein and his team aim to develop new and safer therapies for autoimmune rheumatic disease. His research aims to understand pathogenesis of autoimmune rheumatic disease (including rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus) both in terms of loss of immune tolerance and ongoing inflammation.

Dr Patrick O’Brien is a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at UCLH. Dr O’Brien specialises in maternal medicine and at UCLH jointly runs the multi-disciplinary ‘high-risk’ antenatal team involving consultants in fetal medicine, cardiology, haematology and diabetes. Dr O’Brien chaired the international section of the Institute for Women’s Health at UCLH and is a member of the medical advisory and clinical governance committees at the Portland Hospital.

Dr Maddy Noursadeghi is a senior lecturer in the Division of Infection & Immunity at UCL and an Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases at UCLH. Dr Noursadeghi’s research focuses on how human cells interact with microbes and how new technologies can be used to simultaneously measure immune responses across the whole genome in order to understand how infections cause disease.

Dr Richard Perry is a consultant neurologist with a special interest in stroke, particularly ‘hyperacute’ stroke care. He was the clinical lead for the Hyperacute Stroke Unit (HASU) at UCLH while it was being set up in 2009-2010. Once the unit was setup, research recruitment became a high priority. He led the successful bid to develop one of eight national Hyperacute Stroke Research Centres within our UCLH.

Professor Anne Schilder leads the evidENT team at UCL dedicated to developing the evidence base for ENT, hearing and balance. She is a Paediatric ENT surgeon at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital and holds a chair at the UCL Ear Institute and at the University Medical Center Utrecht (in the Netherlands). Professor Schilder’s trials in the field of ENT infections in children have been influential in the way global health-care systems think about the management of these conditions and have been translated into evidence-based guidelines and health policies.

Professor Jeremy Whelan is a consultant oncologist at UCLH and leads a programme of clinical research in sarcomas and in cancer affecting young people. He is a chief investigator of the international study for osteosarcoma, EURAMOS 1, which has recruited over 2,000 patients in Europe and the USA and of BRIGHTLIGHT, a study addressing the value of specialist services for young people with cancer.

Dr Stuart Bloom has been a consultant gastroenterologist at UCLH since 1996. He was previously MRC training fellow at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford. He was clinical director of gastroenterology at UCLH from 2001-2006 and was chair of the inflammatory bowel disease section of the British Society of Gastroenterology from 2006- 2010. Dr Bloom is currently GI specialty lead for North Thames Clinical Research Network and leads on the national IBD Registry. His key clinical interests are in the care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease and maximising participation of patients in clinical trials.